The administration of US President Donald Trump opposed opening the door to grandparents from six Muslim-majority countries on Monday, arguing in a court filing that the government's interpretation of how to implement its temporary travel ban is based on US immigration law.
The US Supreme Court in a ruling last Monday revived parts of Trump's 6 March executive order that banned people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, which had been blocked by lower courts. The highest court let the ban go forward with a limited scope, saying that it cannot apply to anyone with credible "bona fide relationship" with a US person or entity.
After the Supreme Court ruling, the government said that a "bona fide relationship" means close family members only: Parents, spouses, siblings and children. Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins from the six countries would still be banned.
The government's definition, "hews closely to the categorical determinations articulated by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act," Department of Justice lawyers argued in court papers on Monday.
The government said Hawaii, and refugee organisations that filed a "friend of the court" brief in support of the state, were seeking to apply "broader, free-hand rules."
Any refugees with such a relationship should be exempt from the three-month ban on refugees included in the executive order, according to the Supreme Court ruling.
But the government said workers with offers of employment with a US company and international students are fundamentally different than refugees receiving help from US resettlement agencies.
Using the organisation's interpretation would make the refugee provisions in the executive order "largely meaningless," the government said.
US refugee resettlement is continuing as normal until 6 July, the State Department has said, around when the 50,000 cap for the fiscal year set by Trump's executive order is likely to be reached.
Late on Thursday, before the ban went into effect, the government reversed its position on fiancés, saying they could also qualify for exceptions.
The rollout of the narrowed version of the ban was more subdued on Friday compared to in January when Trump first signed a more expansive version of the order, sparking protests and chaos at airports around the country and the world.
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